Swiss Passport issued in East Berlin, East Germany

The Swiss / East Germany diplomatic relation began in Dec 1972 when Switzerland recognized East Germany (GDR) as independent state. The fist mission was just a trade mission and was opened in Nov 1972. Hansjakob Kaufmann was the first and only head of this trade mission which closed in 17 Mar 1973. A day later the first Swiss embassy was established. In 15 years the Swiss embassy had only 4 different ambassadors.This Swiss passport was issued during the period of ambassador Peter Dietschi who was in this post from Sep 1982 till Aug 1987.

The passport was issued for a fee of 38CHF or 45.60 East Mark.

This is a pretty rare travel document considering the diplomatic relationship between the two countries.I can’t imagine that many passports were issued by the Swiss in East Germany in these 15 years. I never saw such a document before. Once again THANK YOU to my German friend who supported me in getting this outstanding document into my collection.

Remark: In 1973 two East German citizens living in Switzerland were arrested for espionage. The East German ambassador said “I am completely surprised as this is totally against the order I got for my mission in Switzerland”. Source: Dodis 38841 and 38849.

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